JCDecaux Mulls U.S. Takeovers as ‘Outdoor Cliff’ May Cut Prices

By Amy Thomson -
Nov 15, 2012

JCDecaux SA (DEC), seeking to grow in the
U.S., is watching to see if the slowing economy brings down
asset prices as potential targets like CBS Outdoor Inc. are too
expensive, said Co-Chief Executive Officer Jean-Francois Decaux.

JCDecaux, the world’s largest outdoor advertising company,
is looking for deals in the U.S., part of an effort to expand
outside Europe where sales growth is lackluster, Decaux said in
Barcelona at an investor conference organized by Morgan Stanley.

“If the economy continues to be difficult, and maybe more
difficult, some of our competitors will be facing potentially
some difficulties in refinancing their debt,” he said
yesterday. “It’s not the fiscal cliff, it’s the outdoor cliff.”

Companies like CBS’s outdoor advertising business and Clear
Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. (CCO), which is controlled by Bain
Capital Partners LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP after a 2008
buyout, are out of reach for now, according to Decaux.

“Neither CBS Outdoor nor Clear Channel are for sale and at
any rate their price expectations are too high,” he said.

JCDecaux, based in Neuilly-Sur-Seine near Paris, generated
more than two-thirds of its 2.46 billion euros ($3.1 billion) in
2011 revenue from Europe. The company has made progress on its
goal to expand abroad, except in the U.S., where it is difficult
to grow without acquisitions, Decaux said.

The French company will decide in the next few years
whether to increase its stake in Russian advertising company
Russ Outdoor after agreeing to buy a 25 percent stake in
October, Decaux said. The private equity companies that own the
majority of Russ Outdoor view Decaux as a potential acquirer of
their holding, he said.